The economic disaster caused by Venezuela’s 21st Century Socialism continues to reap havoc on the nation’s socioeconomic fabric. We have rolling blackouts due to energy shortages. There’s a lack of access to television, long distance phone service, and toilet paper. And with the government failing to provide, the people have resorted to looting. Now, the government has shortened its workweek to just two days (via Opportunity Lives):

Venezuela is coming apart at the seams. Crime is
rampant, jobs are scarce, poverty is alarmingly high and looting is
prevalent in big cities and rural towns. Venezuelans spend hours every
day waiting in line
at their local grocery stores and supermarkets hoping to purchase
whatever rations may be available. And now there are reports that with
energy and electricity in such short supply, the socialist government is
cutting the workweek to two days
[…]
With misery rising, Maduro is running out of excuses. For months he
has blamed Venezuela’s severe food shortages on a “conspiracy” by the
United States. It’s gotten so outlandish that the Venezuelan government
recently claimed that Vice President Joe Biden is plotting Maduro’s
assassination.
[…]
What’s strange is that just as Venezuelans are in most need, the
government is reducing its availability to deliver basic public services
by shortening its workweek.
Not surprisingly, the people are taking to the streets and demanding
change. Discontent is no longer confined to the middle class. Now even
Venezuela’s poorest, once the most faithful devotees to the promises of
socialism under Chavez, are calling out for help and pleading for a
lifeline.

Monday, May 2, 2016

The Brady Bill
The Brady Bill, which made it more difficult to purchase a handgun, was a hallmark of the Clinton presidency.

First introduced in 1987, the Brady Bill was
named for President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, John Brady, who was
wounded in an attempt to assassinate Reagan in 1981.

Brady’s
wife, Sarah Brady, became a major proponent of gun control legislation
following the assassination attempt, which left her husband partially
but permanently paralyzed. Despite the backing of Reagan, various
versions of the Brady Bill did not come seriously close to passing until
the Bush administration, when Bush vetoed a version of the legislation
passed by Congress.
After defeating Bush in 1992, Clinton lobbied
the House and Senate to send the bill back to the White House again.
Congress obliged, and Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law on Nov. 30,
1993, less than one year into his presidency. The bill created a
mandatory five-day waiting period after handgun purchases and required
local law enforcement to run background checks on purchasers.

Assault Weapons Ban
Emboldened
by the success of the Brady Bill, Clinton next turned his sights on an
assault weapons ban, another gun control battle that had been simmering
since the mid-1980s. By late summer in 1994, legislation enacting such a
ban was making serious headway in Congress. On Sept. 13, 1994, Clinton
signed the Assault Weapons Ban into law as part of the 1994 Crime Bill.

Targeting
semi-automatic weapons bearing characteristics of military guns, the
AWB banned a wide range of weapons, such as the AK-47 and the AR series
of rifles. Among guns outlawed by the AWB were any that included two or
more of a list of characteristics ranging from telescoping stocks to
bayonet mounts.

Executive Measures
While a
Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the 1994 midterm
election hampered efforts by the Clinton White House to usher in more
gun control measures, Clinton turned to his executive powers several
times during his second term to tighten down on gun ownership.
One
such measure was an order banning the importation of more than four
dozen makes of assault weapons, such as variations of the AK-47. The
order, signed in 1998, targeted the importation of guns that were not
subjected to the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.

Another measure was an
order in the eleventh hour of Clinton’s presidency banning the
importation of certain makes of so-called “assault pistols,” such as
Uzis, and requiring firearms dealers to submit to fingerprinting and
background checks.

Finally, the White House reached a deal with
firearms giant Smith & Wesson in which Clinton promised an end to
civil lawsuits against the gun manufacturer in exchange for Smith &
Wesson outfitting its guns with trigger locks and agreeing to implement
“smart gun” technology within two years.

Gun Crackdowns Rendered Toothless
While
the National Rifle Association and most American gun owners lamented
the gun policies of

the Clinton administration, time and the courts have
rendered most of those stricter gun measures ineffective.

Parts
of the Brady Bill were struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 2007 (although the five-day wait would have been
rendered a moot point with the establishment of a national instant
background check system, which soon followed). The Assault Weapons Ban
was allowed to expire in 2004 when Congress failed to take up
legislation that would have extended the ban or made it permanent, and
Clinton’s predecessor, George W. Bush, did not lobby for the extension.
And a combination of new ownership at Smith & Wesson and a Bush
administration crackdown on lawsuits aimed at gun manufacturers
ultimately crippled the Clinton administration’s agreement with Smith
& Wesson, as the gun-maker backed out of most of the agreement’s
provisions, including a pledge to invest in smart gun technology.

The
Clinton administration’s only lasting impact on gun rights are the lack
of certain imports of foreign semiautomatic rifles and background
checks for handgun purchases. Ironically, it was those early victories
that had lost much of their effectiveness within 10 years that prevented
Clinton from pushing through what might have been longer-lasting gun
control measures during his second term. The Brady Bill and Assault
Weapons Ban were blamed for the defeat of several Democrats who voted
for them as Republicans took control of the House in 1994. As a result,
Clinton’s gun control priorities in the latter years of his presidency
were never able to meet the muster of Republican opposition. Among them
were requirements for child trigger locks, a three-day waiting period
for gun show purchases and high capacity magazine bans.
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/guncontrol/a/Bill-Clinton-Gun-Control-Second-Amendment.htm